Italian National Team Names Angela McMahon Head Coach

AMHERST, Mass. - The Italian Lacrosse Association has named UMass lacrosse head coach Angela McMahon as head coach of the first-ever Italian national team that will compete in the 2017 FIL World Cup in Guildford, England. Justin Serpone, who is McMahon's husband and the head men's soccer coach at Amherst College, will serve as co-head coach of the team.

McMahon, who will continue to serve as head coach for UMass, is tasked with building the Italian national team over the next two years as it prepares for its first world championship event. The first test for the squad will be the 2015 European Championship with a host site still to be determined.

"I am humbled and honored to serve as the first Italian National Team coach," said McMahon. "I am thrilled to embark on such a unique and special experience coaching alongside my husband, Justin Serpone. It is our mission to field a competitive team for the 2015 European Championship and the 2017 World Cup, but also to help grow the sport in Italy, while getting closer to the ultimate goal of lacrosse becoming an Olympic sport."

In her first four years at UMass, McMahon has led the Minutewomen to a 72-10 overall record including a 28-0 mark in Atlantic 10 regular-season play. That win total is the third-best among any program in the country during that time span. In just a short time, the native of Weston, Mass., has also become the second all-time winningest coach in program history behind Hall of Fame and UMass legend Pam Hixon.

McMahon will enter her fifth year at UMass this upcoming season with a streak of four Atlantic 10 championship titles and four berths to the NCAA Tournament to her credit.

The naming of McMahon as the head coach of the Italian team continues a recent string of Minutewomen participating in international events. Former assistant coaches Acacia Walker and Sarah Albrecht both competed for the U.S. National Team with Albrecht being a member of the most recent U.S. championship squad at the FIL World Championships in 2013.

In 2009, former assistant coach Kristen Blanchette along with former players Merritt Cosgrove and Jackie Rosenzweig took part in the World Cup event in Prague as members of the first-ever Irish National Team.

Players interested in more information about tryouts for the McMahon and the Italian national team can send an email to italywomenslacrosse@gmail.com. There will be an initial Italian-American tryout on August 3 at the Pennington School in Pennington, New Jersey.